Minstrel shows spread in popularity, primarily featuring white people in Black face that depict demeaning distortions of African American and travel through the South. Eventually the white performers will be replaced by Black actors in Black face. Seeing it as an opportunity for financial gain, "African American artists migrated out of the South and traveled to the West and New York City to form minstrel groups who advertised their 'authentic blackness' as a selling point to Northern audiences" (USF, n.d.). By the 1900's, Black ragtime variety shows will have replaced minstrel shows.